As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 62-86272, a three dimensional parking system is known, in which a vehicle is transferred between a movable platform having comblike fork beams for carrying a vehicle and lifts having comblike fork beams. As shown in FIG. 8, this three dimensional parking system includes housing stations 41, 42 provided on each floor for accommodating vehicles, and a lift compartment 43 defined between the housing stations 41, 42 for allowing lifts 44 to be moved upward or downward.
A plurality of separate drive rollers 45 are provided on the same level at the opposite ends of each of the housing stations 41, 42 and the lift compartment 43. Further, driver motors 46 are provided in each of the housing stations 41, 42 and the lift compartment 43 for the respective groups of these drive rollers.
Each drive motor 46 and its corresponding drive rollers 45 are connected by a chain which is driven by the drive motor 46. By driving these groups of drive rollers 45 simultaneously, a movable platform 47 used to carry vehicles is moved on the drive rollers to a predetermined position in the housing stations 41, 42 or to a predetermined position in the lift compartment 43.
However, since a plurality of drive rollers 45 are provided in each of the housing stations 41, 42 and the lift compartment 43, it is required to adjust the level of the drive rollers 45 so as to level the groups of the drive rollers 45 with each other. Therefore, the conventional three dimensional parking system presents a drawback, namely that significant labor and time are required for maintenance.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a drive mechanism for a three dimensional vehicle parking system which can be easily maintained, by improving a drive mechanism which drives a movable platform for carrying a vehicle.